Muammar Gaddafi killed after his capture near Sirte

Former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi died of wounds suffered on Thursday as fighters battling to complete an eight-month-old uprising against his rule overran his hometown Sirte, Libya's interim rulers said.

His killing, which came swiftly after his capture near Sirte, is the most dramatic single development in the Arab Spring revolts that have unseated rulers in Egypt and Tunisia and threatened the grip on power of the leaders of Syria and Yemen.

"He (Gaddafi) was also hit in his head," National Transitional Council official Abdel Majid Mlegta told Reuters. "There was a lot of firing against his group and he died."

Mlegta told Reuters earlier that Gaddafi, who was in his late 60s, was captured and wounded in both legs at dawn on Thursday as he tried to flee in a convoy which NATO warplanes attacked. He said he had been taken away by an ambulance.

There was no independent confirmation of his remarks.

An anti-Gaddafi fighter said Gaddafi had been found hiding in a hole in the ground and had said "Don't shoot, don't shoot" to the men who grabbed him.

His capture followed within minutes of the fall of Sirte, a development that extinguished the last significant resistance by forces loyal to the deposed leader.

The capture of Sirte and the death of Gaddafi means Libya's ruling NTC should now begin the task of forging a new democratic system which it had said it would get under way after the city, built as a showpiece for Gaddafi's rule, had fallen.

Gaddafi, wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of ordering the killing of civilians, was toppled by rebel forces on August 23 after 42 years of one-man rule over the oil-producing North African state.

NTC fighters hoisted the red, black and green national flag above a large utilities building in the center of a newly-captured Sirte neighborhood and celebratory gunfire broke out among their ecstatic and relieved comrades.

Hundreds of NTC troops had surrounded the Mediterranean coastal town for weeks in a chaotic struggle that killed and wounded scores of the besieging forces and an unknown number of defenders.

NTC fighters said there were a large number of corpses inside the last redoubts of the Gaddafi troops. It was not immediately possible to verify that information.

Q&A: Top NTC commander Abdel Hakim Belhadj from Tripoli

Abdul Hakim Belhadj, former prisoner of Gaddafi, arrested by the CIA in 2004, is now one of the most powerful men in the new Libya. 

Sitting in a lavish apartment in the wing of a 5-star Tripoli hotel once inhabited by Muammar Gaddafi's son Saif, Abdel Hakim Belhadj looked a bit out of place in his drab, beige and brown military fatigues.

These again, incongruities of this sort are becoming common for the 45-year-old revolutionary who emerged from the darkest of Gaddafi's torture chambers to become the leader of Tripoli's Military Council, and, by some accounts, the most powerful man in the new Libya.

And sharp swings of fate are hardly new for Belhadj, a war-hardened fighter who was born in Tripoli's Souq al-Jumaa district and studied engineering at al-Fateh University.

In the 1980s, he fought in Afghanistan against the Soviets and later returned to Libya to form the former Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, which fought a guerrilla war in Libya's hinterlands for three years and allegedly tried to assassinate Gaddafi three times in the mid-1990s.

To escape Gaddafi's wrath, he led a life on the run, spending time in Sudan, Syria, Pakistan, Turkey, Syria and Iran before returning to Afghanistan. According to an arrest warrant issued in 2002, Belhadj forged close ties with al-Qaeda and the Taliban. 

Escaping his base in Jalalabad whenthe US moved into Afghanistan after  September 11, 2001, he was eventually arrested with his wife by the CIA in Bangkok in 2004. He was then extradited to Libya, where he

was imprisoned and tortured in the notorious Abu Salim prison for seven years.

Released in 2010, as part of a plan championed by the same Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, Belhadj eventually became the top rebel commander in Libya and was largely credited for masterminding the fall of Tripoli on August 23.

Belhadj spoke to Al Jazeera's David Poort about torture, tragedy and what he plans to say to Muammar Gaddafi.

David Poort: What happened to you after your arrest in 2004? Belhadj: When I was arrested I was first subjected to barbaric treatment at the hands of CIA agents at Bangkok airport. The same treatment was given to my wife, who was pregnant at the time. Later, in Libya, I was subjected to many types of physical and mental torture.

[Appears uncomfortable] Let's not get into the details. DP: Colonel Ahmed Bani said there is a "human tragedy" unfolding in Bani Walid. What is your assessment? Belhadj: We have sent additional weapons and troops to Bani Walid, answering calls from our fighters at the frontline. Our commanders there said they had a shortage of equipment and weapons, so over the past days we have been trying to accommodate their requests.

We've also sent more ambulances and other aid vehicles. Hopefully, this will have a positive effect on the situation so that Bani Walid may be liberated soon. DP: What is the latest from Sirte?

Belhadj: The same goes for the situation in Sirte. People from there are witnessing a very fierce conflict and they are paying a heavy price. Casualty numbers are very high. Even so, the situation in Sirte is better than it is in Bani Walid. DP: Do you know the location of Gaddafi and his sons? Belhadj: We are receiving conflicting reports on this. But the heavy resistance from the remaining Gaddafi troops confirms to me that they are among them. We know there are still a lot of loyalist fighters active in Bani Walid. If we find Gaddafi or his family members we will treat them fairly and give them a fair trial. We will protect their human rights, because that is what this revolution is all about; that is what we have risen up for. DP: Are your troops disciplined enough not to shoot Gaddafi on sight? 

Belhadj: [Joking: I hope they do] This revolution has set high standards regarding the justice system. All accused will be subjected to the same laws, regardless of their status or the crimes they committed. I trust my troops to do the right thing, but also I trust that Gaddafi won't surrender easily. Our troops will deal with him according to military standards, as a soldier. 

However, we believe that he will not let himself be arrested. I think he would rather kill himself. DP: What would you say to Gaddafi if they catch him alive? Belhadj: I would only ask him: "Did you ever expect yourself to be in this position?" [Smiles] DP: There are still neighbourhoods in Tripoli known to be largely loyal to Gaddafi. Are you worried about this? 

Belhadj: Tripoli has been liberated and we have now moved to the second phase, which is securing all neighbourhoods of the capital. This is important because we need people to return to their normal life, to go back to work, and children to go back to school. 

DP: Western countries have voiced concern about Islamist elements within the revolutionary forces. Belhadj: Regarding the Islamist elements among the revolutionaries, I can only say that Libya is an Islamic country and that all our traditions and behaviour is built on Islam. Libyans are generally moderate Muslims, with moderate ways of practice and understandings of religion. You can find some extreme elements that are different from the ainstream, but this does not in any  ay represent the majority of the  Libyan people. I would like to remind you again that the Islamic elements in the revolution are not considered to be a danger to our country or to our neighbours. 

DP: What about your own alleged ties with al-Qaeda? Regarding what people say about ties with al-Qaeda: We have never been in a relationship with them or joined them in any kind of activity, because we could never come to an nderstanding of [philosophies]. 

Even the Western intelligence agencies have found no connection between the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group and al-Qaeda. The confusion stems from us being active at the same time and place as them. We never sympathised with them or upported their activities. We were against their ideas and actions. 

DP: What will be your role in the new Libya when the fighting is over? Belhadj: I'll be what the Libyan people will ask me to be. My future role is still to be decided upon in the oming period. I don't care whether my role will be political or military. [Joking: Maybe I could become a journalist.] At this time, we are still fighting a war for liberty that was orced upon us by the previous  government. We did not choose to wear this uniform and carry these weapons. 

Our main challenge is to build our dream, a civilised country where every civilian can get all of his civil rights. To achieve this, we need all Libyan people to participate. We do not know how long this battle will continue but I don't think this will be over by the end of this month. 

Gaddafi defenders stall advance on Libyan town

Battle-hardened Libyan combatants joined the fight to capture a desert town from well-armed loyalists of Muammar Gaddafi on Sunday after the head of Libya's interim council warned that the ousted leader still posed a threat.

Gaddafi troops firing rockets and mortars held up local fighters trying to push into the northern outskirts of Bani Walid, which lies 150 km (95 miles) southeast of Tripoli.

Scores of uniformed soldiers and experienced fighters of the ruling Transitional National Council (NTC) reinforced their comrades who have met fierce resistance from Gaddafi forces since Friday, saying they would attack within hours.

"I've been a soldier in the Libyan army in the 1980s. I have a little bit more experience than these local boys," said one new arrival, Omar Swaid, a truck driver from Kansas.

"They are great -- very enthusiastic but they don't know how to fight. We're going help them. The Gaddafi forces, some want to surrender. I hope this is the last fight. I don't want to see any more blood," he said in a broad American accent.

NATO warplanes, which Reuters witnesses said launched at least seven strikes on Gaddafi positions on Saturday, again patrolled the skies. NATO confirmed its aircraft had flown missions over Bani Walid but would not comment on any bombing.

"NATO dropped many bombs yesterday, targeting Grad rocket launchers. It is really helping us. When we enter the city, NATO should give us more protection from the sky," said Ibrahim Bakkar, a 20-year-old fighter, outside Bani Walid.

The original plan was for local men to enter the town of 100,000 to reassure residents and to encourage Gaddafi fighters to lay down their weapons and stay indoors.

But NTC officials, who first estimated they were facing only 150 Gaddafi loyalists, now say their opponents number about 1,000 after an influx of extra men from other Gaddafi strongholds such as Sirte on the coast and Sabha in the south.

"Last night the enemy fired many Grad rockets and mortars. We were under a hail of Grads. We don't know what we're going to do now. I have to admit, they have more experience than us," said Mohammed Ibrahim, a local anti-Gaddafi fighter.

GETTING A GRIP

It is vital for the NTC to capture Gaddafi's last strongholds and find the fugitive former leader to assert its grip over the vast oil-producing North African country and begin a countdown to elections and a new constitution.

NTC chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil, a former Gaddafi justice minister who had run the council from the eastern city of Benghazi, arrived in Tripoli on Saturday for the first time since bands of anti-Gaddafi rebels captured it on Aug. 23.

"Brotherhood and warmth -- that's what we will depend on to build our future. We are not at a time of retribution," Abdel Jalil declared. "This is the time of unity and liberation."

The NTC has said it will complete its move to Tripoli this week, although previous timelines for this have slipped.

Establishing a credible interim government in the capital would mark an important step for Libya, where regional and factional rivalries among forces united only by contempt for Gaddafi could trouble efforts to reshape the country.

The NTC is anxious to show it can restart oil production, virtually stalled since the civil war began six months ago.

Interim Oil and Finance Minister Ali Tarhouni said on Saturday oil would be pumped at some fields within days and pre-war output levels would be restored within a year.

But Abdel Jalil said Libya could not yet be declared "liberated" from the man who ruled it for 42 years.

"Gaddafi still has money and gold," he said. "These are the fundamental things that will allow him to find men."

The NTC had given Sirte, Sabha and Bani Walid until Saturday to surrender or face attack, although fighting around Sirte and Bani Walid erupted a day before the deadline.

Anti-Gaddafi fighters believe one or two of the ousted leader's sons may be holed up in Bani Walid. Some NTC officials have even suggested Gaddafi might be there.

The struggle for the town appeared far from over.

Abdulkarim el Elwani, a former Libyan army soldier who defected, now commands a unit of about 100 men who arrived at the front on Sunday, visibly better-equipped and in uniform.

"They asked us to come here because the Bani Walid rebels have failed to take the city," he said. "There's a lot of resistance. We have orders to advance in two hours."

Libyan rebels use drone against Gaddafi

In a dramatic illustration of the spread of drone technology, a Canadian company said this week that it sold a small military surveillance craft to Libyan rebels who have been using it since July for the frontline monitoring of forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi.

“It has been used in active war fighting and they have had spectacular results,” said David Kroetsch, chief executive of Aeryon Labs Inc. in Waterloo, Canada, which manufactures the Aeryon Scout. The 3-pound helicopter-like drone carries both day-time and night-time cameras and flies almost soundlessly at 500 feet.

“Even in the quiet of the desert, you could not hear it or see it, it’s a speck in the sky, especially at night,” said Kroetsch, noting that the drone is all-electric and has no engine noise.

The United States and its NATO allies have also been flying both weaponized and surveillance drones over Libya, but it was not known that the rebels had also acquired the technology. The New York Times first reported on the drone being used by Libya’s rebels on Wednesday.

The Canadian government, which has recognized Transitional National Council as the legitimate government of Libya, approved the sale. And it is the first time that a Western government has allowed the transfer of drone technology to an insurgency.

Kroetsch said the rebels had experimented unsuccessfully with putting a camera on a remote-controlled helicopter before looking to purchase a proven drone. “They realized this was not time for a science experiment,” Kroetsch said.

He said the sale was brokered through the TNC’s representative in Canada. He declined to say how much the rebels paid, but the base price of the scout is $120,000. The drone, which can be packed in a small suitcase, was delivered to the rebels by a Canadian security company, Zariba Security Corp. Charles Barlow, the president of Zariba, took the drone on a ferry from Malta to the besieged city of Misurata.

Barlow then instructed the rebels in the use of the micro-drone, and they began to use it themselves after only a day.

Libyan Rebels capture Gaddafi compound in Tripoli

Rebel fighters captured Moammer Gaddafi's heavily fortified Bab al-Aziziya compound and headquarters in Tripoli on Tuesday after a day of fierce fighting, a correspondent witnessed.

The defenders had fled, and there was no immediate word on the whereabouts of Gaddafi or his family after the insurgents breached the defences as part of a massive assault that began in the morning.

"Rebels breached the surrounding cement walls and entered inside. They have taken Bab al-Azizya. Completely. It is finished," the correspondent said.

"It is an incredible sight," he said, adding that the bodies of a number of apparent Gaddafi fighters were lying inside, as well as wounded.

Only minutes earlier, rebel spokesman Colonel Ahmed Omar Bani said from Benghazi: "Our forces are surrounding Bab al-Azizya. There is a fierce battle going on there. We are now controlling one of the gates, the western entrance."

The correspondent said rebels found an armoury in one of the buildings and were seizing quantities of ammunition, pistols and assault rifles.

There was no immediate comment from the rebel leadership in the eastern city of Bengazi, but an official in the western city of Misrata said that "at the same house used by Gaddafi before to describe the Libyan people as rats, today the independence flag flying on its roof."

On Tuesday morning, Gaddafi's son Seif al-Islam, who was reportedly under arrest, made a surprise appearance in Tripoli and announced that his father and family were still in the capital.

However, he declined to say where.
"Gaddafi and the entire family are in Tripoli," Seif told reporters at the Rixos Hotel where many foreign journalists are housed.

Seif also said the regime's forces had deliberately not tried to prevent the rebels from entering the capital.

"Allowing the rebels to enter Tripoli was a trick," he said, without elaborating.
NATO, meanwhile, said Gaddafi was "not a target" for the military alliance.
"NATO does not target individuals," said Operation Unified Protector spokesman, Colonel Roland Lavoie.

"Gaddafi does not constitute a target," he told reporters in Brussels via video-conference from the mission's Naples headquarters.
In the hours that led up to the storming of the compound in central Tripoli, the sound of the fighting was the most intense heard in the city since rebels arrived three days ago.

The correspondent said that rebel forces coming from the western city of Misrata had reinforced the offensive during the afternoon.
The rebel official in Misrata said one of their commanders had been killed in the assault on the compound.

The sky was filled with the sound of heavy and light machine guns as well as mortars, with the overhead roar of NATO jets that had been carrying intensive over flights though it was unclear if there were any air strikes.

Even two kilometres (about a mile) from the fighting, the almost constant whistle of falling bullets could be hear from the rooftops, as the city's mosques chanted "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest).

Gaddafi son Saif Al Islam at Tripoli hotel after arrest report

Saif al-Islam, the son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi who rebels and the International Criminal Court said had been arrested, arrived late on Monday at the Tripoli hotel where foreign reporters are staying.

Saif appeared at the Rixos Hotel late at night and spoke to foreign journalists there. Television footage showed him pumping his fists in the air, smiling, waving and shaking hands with supporters, as well as holding

his arms aloft with each hand making the V for victory sign. 

Saif told journalists that Tripoli, which has been largely overrun in the past 24 hours by rebel forces seeking to topple his father, was in fact in government hands and that Muammar Gaddafi was safe. Earlier, armed pro-Gaddafi security mean guarding the hotel took a small group of journalists to Gaddafi's Bab al Aziziyah compound, where they had a meeting with Saif. 

They returned to the hotel accompanied by Saif, who then spoke to journalists in the lobby before taking some of them back to he compound a short distance away for a  brief visit.

Saif said: "I am here to disperse the rumors ...

"This is a war of technology and electronics to cause chaos and terror in Libya. They also brought in armed gangs by sea and by road."

He was referring to a text message sent to mobile phone subscribers in Tripoli on Monday congratulating them on the fall of Muammar Gaddafi. Saif also said that Tripoli was under government control and that he did not care about an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court in The Hague seeking him and his father for crimes gainst humanity. 

When asked if his father was safe and well in Tripoli, Saif told a journalist: "Of course."

Libyan Prince Says Qaddafi Will Be Ousted If Rebels Are United

Libyan Prince Muhammad bin Sayyid Hassan as-Senussi said Muammar Gaddafi will be toppled “sooner rather than later” if rebels keep their unity and resolve, as the conflict in the North African nation enters its sixth month.

“Day after day, week after week, most of the nation has stood together, united against the tyrant as brave freedom fighters have taken up arms,” as-Senussi said in a statement on his website today. “For Libya to take its place among the great nations of the world, we must work together as one people.”

On Feb. 17, Libyans in the eastern town of Benghazi staged a peaceful protest calling for more rights, and were fired upon by security forces. In March, amid international condemnation of Qaddafi’s escalating crackdown on dissent, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization began an air campaign to protect civilians.

After several weeks of stalemate, the rebels are claiming advances on the battlefield. Opposition forces say they have ended nightly rocket attacks by Qaddafi’s military by taking the town of Tarwaga, near the western city of Misrata. They also say they are inside Zawiya, 35 miles (56 kilometers) from the capital, Tripoli.

Qaddafi has lasted longer than expected amid reports of fuel and food shortages in Tripoli, which he controls. This week, he urged his supporters to resist NATO and rebel fighters in a speech aired as an audio file on state television.

“United we must fight for a new society in which the freedoms and rights of the people come first,” said as-Senussi, who now lives in London. “This long struggle, one that has been longer than we had hoped, is not yet over,”

As-Senussi is the son of Hassan as-Senussi and the great- nephew of King Idris, who was overthrown by Qaddafi in September 1969. The prince, who pushed for a no-fly zone over Libya in February, has worked with Libyan expatriates to send goods, clothing and medicine to the North African country.

Endgame for Libyan Strongman Muammar Gaddafi?

The battle to control Libya has entered its final phase when Muammar Gaddafi must make a choice: to seek a negotiated exit or to defend his capital to the last bullet. Rebels with support from NATO warplanes have, over the past 48 hours, taken key towns around Gaddafi’s stronghold in

Tripoli in a dramatic series of advances which cut the city off from supplies of fuel and food.

Rebel offensives have, in the past, turned into headlong retreats. But if they hold their ground, the end of Gaddafi’s 41-year rule will be closer than at any time since the conflict began six months ago.

A U.S. official said that for the first time in the conflict, government forces on Sunday fired a Scud missile — an act that was pointless from a military point of view but signalled the desperation of pro-Gaddafi forces.

“The Libyan regime may or may not collapse forthwith but it now looks like it will happen sooner or later,” said Daniel Korski, a fellow at the European Council for Foreign Relations.

He added: “The manner of its collapse, however, and the method of the rebel takeover will be just as important as the conduct of the war.”

Flushed by their success in getting so close to Tripoli, some rank-and-file rebels on Monday spoke of attacking the capital next. But analysts said that will not be the favoured option for rebel commanders.

Unwanted battle

Gaddafi will throw all the men and weapons he has left into a defence of the capital, civilian casualties in urban fighting will be high, and sections of the population in Tripoli are likely to oppose the rebels.

Even if Gaddafi’s opponents were able to win that fight, the bloodshed would create grievances and vendettas which could make the capital — and maybe even the country — ungovernable.

Starved of fuel and unable to bring in more weapons and reinforcements, elements of Gaddafi’s security forces in Tripoli may decide the best way to save themselves is to lay down their arms or cross over and join the rebels.

Libya: Gaddafi Faces Fourth Month Without Gasoline Shipments

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi faces a fourth month without receiving gasoline cargoes by sea as motorists wait in line at filling stations in the capital.

Rebels opposing Gaddafi received three to four cargoes of gasoline a month in June and July while the leader got none, according to two traders, one shipowner, one analyst and one shipbroker surveyed. The rebels received about four cargoes in May and Gaddafi got none. That compares with eight cargoes in a normal month before an uprising erupted in February, they said.

“International sanctions and the tight monitoring of Libya’s waters by the NATO-led alliance have so far been very successful in denying the regime access to imported fuel cargoes, a situation which will not change over the coming month,” said Samuel Ciszuk, senior Middle East and North Africa energy analyst at researcher IHS Energy Group U.K. Ltd.

Libya’s refineries produced 5.2 million metric tons of diesel and gasoline in 2008, according to the International Energy Agency, a Paris-based adviser to industrialized nations. The plants will probably process no more than 90,000 barrels of oil a day this summer, compared with the usual 370,000 barrels, the IEA said in a report in May.

“The economic pressure on Qaddafi is tremendous,” Ciszuk said. “Qaddafi has to prioritize fuel for his military forces to survive.”

650,000 Cars

One gasoline shipment comprises about 34 million liters (9 million gallons) of the car fuel, enough to fill about 650,000 vehicles.

The fuel’s scarcity may be causing longer waiting times for motorists in Tripoli, said Alan Fraser, a security analyst at AKE Group Ltd. in London, citing contacts in the Libyan city. The capital is held by Qaddafi’s regime, while the rebels control the eastern port city of Benghazi.

“Queues are reportedly getting worse in Tripoli,” Fraser said. “I’ve heard reports of up to five days. In Benghazi, I’ve never heard of fuel shortages being a major issue.”

Libyan crude production fell to 100,000 barrels a day last month, compared with an average of 1.55 million in 2010, according to data.

Rebel Chief Says Gaddafi, Family Can Stay in Libya

Libyan opposition leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil said Sunday that Col. Moammar Gadhafi and his family could remain in Libya as part of a political solution to the five-month-old conflict, provided they give up power and rebel leaders can determine where in Libya and under what conditions they remain.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal during an unannounced visit to Libya's rebel- controlled western mountains, Mr. Jalil confirmed reports from other rebel officials in recent days that Qatar has stepped up the flow of military aid to rebels in recent days.

Mr. Jalil's offer to let Col. Gadhafi and his family remain in Libya appears to be a significant reversal for the Libyan opposition leader, who is chairman of the rebels' Transitional National Council, based in Benghazi. "Gadhafi can stay in Libya but it will have conditions," Mr. Jalil said. "We will decide where he stays and who watches him.

The same conditions will apply to his family." Mr. Jalil spoke over a lunch of lamb, garbonzo beans and Pepsi, served in cans adorned with pink paper umbrellas, at a private home in the western mountain city of Zintan, where rebel military leaders have established their regional headquarters.

In agreeing that Mr. Gadhafi and his family could remain in Libya, Mr. Jalil appeared to be softening his position, and backing up comments made by U.S., Italian and French officials in recent days to the same effect. French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said on Wednesday that Col. Gadhafi could remain in Libya as long as he gives up power completely.

The U.S. and Italy have said recently that Col. Gadhafi must be removed from power, but have said his fate after that is up to the Libyan people, leaving open the possibility that he remain in Libya. Mr. Jalil's willingness to accept anything short of exile and criminal prosecution for Mr. Gadhafi is likely to prove unpopular among the rebel rank and file.

Mr. Jalil made similar comments to Reuters earlier this month, but had to issue a quick denial after protests erupted in the streets of Benghazi. But Mr. Jalil appears to have carefully calibrated his comments on Sunday by setting conditions for Col. Gadhafi's remaining in Libya that could be broadly interpreted.

Mr. Jalil didn't elaborate on where or under what conditions rebels would demand Col. Gadhafi live if he remained, but presumably it could mean anything from comfortable house arrest among his tribesmen, to a dark cell in solitary confinement. The diplomatic wording would seem to allow Mr. Jalil to appear willing to compromise to appease Western leaders eager to see an end to the conflict, while not alienating his rebel base who want to see Col. Gadhafi held accountable for his actions.

The softening of Mr. Jalil's position toward Col. Gadhafi and his family comes as rebels say they are stepping up military preparations for a resumed push on Col. Gadhafi's forces along multiple fronts. A critical piece of those preparations has been an uptick in military aide from the Persian Gulf state of Qatar in recent days, according to Mr. Jalil and other rebel officials in Benghazi.

Mr. Jalil said Qatar had sent military trainers to the western mountains to train rebel fighters and had built and equipped a rebel operational command center with the latest equipment. Indeed, Qatari military personnel were accompanying Mr. Jalil during his visit to the western mountains. One Qatari military trainer said his team of trainers arrived in the western mountains 20 days ago to train rebels to use certain light weapons and teach them small- unit tactics.

Sunday's visit was Mr. Jalil's first visit to the region since he was tapped as the rebel leader shortly after the uprising began on Feb. 17. Mr. Jalil and his entourage flew into the western mountains after a short visit in Tunisia, where many Libyan civilians have sought refuge from the fighting and where many rebel fighters have gone for treatment.

His plane landed at the rebels' makeshift airstrip on a straight stretch of desert highway outside of Zintan. Qatar has been one of the rebels' staunchest allies since the early days of the uprising and has long provided them with a steady flow of humanitarian and military aid. Qatar has been sending rebels anti- tank weapons, small arms, ammunitions, and bullet proof vests, among other such items for months, according to rebel officials who help manage and distribute the shipments in Benghazi.

But just in the past four days Qatar has stepped up both the quantity and type of military aid it is shipping to the rebels, these officials said. The recent shipments have for the first time included new four-wheel-drive vehicles and armored mine clearers to help the rebels clear massive mine fields laid by Col. Gadhafi's forces outside the oil town of Brega, according to the officials.

Mr. Jalil said rebels would continue their offensive on all fronts during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins early next month. He said rebels in the western mountains were the closest to Tripoli and rebels' best chance of piercing Col. Gadhafi's defenses and reaching the capital. "The war will end in one of three ways," Mr. Jalil said. "Gadhafi will surrender, he will flee Libya, or he will be killed or captured by one of his bodyguards or by rebel forces."

Rebels Want Qaddafi to Face ICC

On July 22, the deputy head of Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC), Ali Essawi said that he wanted to see Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi stand trial at the International Criminal Court in Hague.

Deputy head of Libyan NTC Ali Essawi said, "We would like to have Gaddafi taken to the ICC, we would like justice to play its role and we would like to see the crimes paid also. There is no contradictory between the two. No-one can forgive him, even if he left the country. His crimes have touched all over the world, not only the Libyans, even other people and other countries and his terrorist actions, and we cannot forgive him on behalf of the others also."

Ali Essawi added, "Negotiations will be only on the departure of Gaddafi. We will not negotiate on his staying in Libya or ruling the Libyans, this is in principle. His statement belongs to him, as far as we know that Gaddafi will not step down. He is insisting on the killing of the Libyans, he is insisting on the revenge from the Libyans and he will not leave the country or the power"

Last month, the Hague-based ICC issued warrants for the arrest of Gaddafi, his son Saif Al-Islam and Libyan intelligence chief Abdullah Al-Senussi on charges that they ordered the killing of protestors.
Meanwhile, on July 21, Gaddafi addressed thousands of supporters in an audio message saying that he would never negotiate with the rebels. NTC officials rejected his statement.

Gaddafi Increases Chances He Could Stay

The U.S., the U.K., Italy and France now say they’re willing to accept an outcome in Libya that would allow Muammar Gaddafi avoid exile or a trial on war crimes charges.

After conducting four months of daily bombings, NATO-led allies are willing to let Gaddafi stay in Libya on the condition that he gives up power.

“If the Libya people believe an internal solution is acceptable, then Italy agrees,” Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said yesterday in Guangzhou, China, according to ANSA news agency. A spokesman confirmed his comments.

“One of the scenarios effectively envisaged is that he stays in Libya on one condition, which I repeat: that he very clearly steps aside from Libyan political life,” French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said July 20 in a television interview with French news channel LCI.

As the military campaign enters its fifth month, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies want to wrap up a mission that Juppe promised at its March 19 outset “will be counted in days and in weeks, not in months.” Politically, they have pressing concerns at home: For Europeans, it’s saving the euro and for Americans, it’s defending an AAA credit rating by cutting federal spending.

“It shows some desperation, because the entire military operation didn’t deliver what the U.K., France and also the U.S. had hoped for,” Jan Techau, director of Carnegie Europe in Brussels, the European center of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said in a telephone interview. “You get pragmatic and you change the targets.”

‘Regime Change 2.0’

Qaddafi, who seized power of the oil-rich North African nation in a military coup in 1969, still controls the capital, Tripoli, and has threatened to “blow up” the city if the rebels succeed in seizing it.

Techau calls the new strategy “Regime Change 2.0,” permitting exile within Libya. That is a softer take on the original plan, which had been to either let Qaddafi escape to a safe haven or have him stand trial for war crimes at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands.

For the first time, allies and rebels may be prepared to grant Qaddafi’s wish to live out his retirement on his home soil, on the condition he lay down his arms and give up power.

That “is a possibility that can be worked to try and make him leave” power, Mahmoud Jibril, who heads the Transitional National Council, the rebel governing group, told reporters in Madrid yesterday.

 

Leaving Power

“If Qaddafi does not leave power, there is no room for an exchange of ideas,” he said. “We do not intend to negotiate on whether Qaddafi leaves power but on how he leaves power.”

As the fighting continues, Qaddafi’s troops have set explosive charges at petroleum installation in the oil port of Brega as well as at unspecified oilfields, Jibril said, according to the Associated Press.

The June 27 indictment of Qaddafi on charges of crimes against humanity limited his exile options to a handful of countries that did not ratify the Rome treaty that set up the court in 2002.

Still, Qaddafi saw a door open the day after the U.S. and 31 other nations gave the Transitional National Council official recognition as the governing authority in Libya.

U.S. Ambassador to Libya Gene Cretz, Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman and National Security Council staff member Derek Chollet held a secret meeting July 16 with representatives of Qaddafi’s inner circle.

U.S.-Libyan Meeting

The face-to-face talks were a sign of U.S. willingness to negotiate with the regime, according to a spokesman for Qaddafi’s government, Moussa Ibrahim. U.S. State Department officials insist that the meeting was not a negotiation and was intended only to deliver the message in person that Qaddafi must step down.

Either way, U.S. officials don’t exclude the possibility of Qaddafi staying in Libya as long as he steps aside.

“He needs to be removed from power or remove himself from power,” White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters July 20. “It is up to the Libyan people to decide what his future is beyond that, I mean, so it’s not for us to say.”

Robert Danin, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, said that the longer the military campaign drags on, the harder it becomes to keep the coalition together. Time has played in Qaddafi’s favor, as it “seems to have strengthened his negotiating position,” Danin said in a telephone interview.

 

‘Palpable Option’

By flitting between conciliatory overtures and threats, Qaddafi has kept his opponents guessing what his next move will be or whether the end to the conflict will come only with his capture or death.

“Qaddafi’s message is, ‘Like hell am I leaving Tripoli; give me something I can work with or come get me,’” said Alessandro Politi, a former adviser to the Italian Defense Ministry. “The allies realize they can’t keep demanding he cede power if they don’t give him a palpable option of where to go.”

The “best” outcome would be for Qaddafi to leave Libya and stand trial in The Hague, Gavin Cook, a spokesman for the U.K. Foreign Office, said in a telephone interview yesterday. “But what happens to Qaddafi is ultimately up to the Libyan people, and they should determine his future.”

Letting Qaddafi stay does pose risks and could destabilize a country that was stitched together in 1929, when Tripolitania and Cyrenaica were united as one colonial province under the Italians. Qaddafi has held the country together in his four decades in power.

“Is he going to be safe five, 10 years down the line is what he will be asking himself,” Politi said. “Will the authorities catch up with him or someone try and kill him?”

Libyan officials sought guarantees Gaddafi would not be pursued for war crimes

Libyan representatives sought guarantees Col Muammar Gaddafi would not be pursued for war crimes if he stepped down during talks with US officials.

Diplomats involved in contacts with Libyan officials said that Tripoli sought talks with Washington as part of a series of informal negotiations on Col Gaddafi's future. But while French mediators last week insisted that Col Gaddafi must leave Libya, a move that would make him vulnerable to arrest and war crimes charges, American diplomats only insisted that the dictator give up power.

European diplomats said on Tuesday that America, which is not a member of the World Court, could formally put its weight behind a deal to scrap UN sanctions that authorised war crime charges. "There is open question here of an American role but the Americans have also been very clear that they delivered a message and not launch negotiations," a European diplomat said.

Libyan emissaries have held a series of meetings with Turkish, French and South African officials in previous weeks. Unnamed regime officials met senior American diplomats in Tunis on Saturday. "There have been a number of indications that talks behind the scenes are going on and the feeling is that these centre on Gaddafi continuing to live in Libya or being allowed a dignified exile, probably somewhere in Africa," said Oliver Miles, a former British ambassador who has met Gaddafi loyalists in recent weeks.

A US official was unequivocal in saying that the only message given to Col Gaddafi in the meeting was that he should stand down. "This was not a negotiation. It was the delivery of a message," the official said. The French defence minister yesterday said pressure on Col Gaddafi to seek a negotiated exit had risen but warned the Libyan leader could still hold out.

"The countdown has begun," said Gerard Longuet, the defence minister who last week called for immediate talks with Col Gaddafi. "I am cautious because Gaddafi is not rational and he could opt for a bunker strategy, taking the whole civilian population of Tripoli hostage." "As panic takes over in the ranks around Gaddafi, we are seeing more and more emissaries of all types who are touring world capitals," he said.

"When one of those comes within our range our message is always the same: Gaddafi must go." Libyan rebels launched a full- scale attack on the oil town of Brega on Thursday, taking significant casualties as they fought through the streets on Saturday and Sunday. They are also having to deal with extensive minefields and traps full of chemicals, they have said. The Transitional National Council on Monday claimed that only a small pocket of 150-200 loyalist fighters were holding out.

The French foreign ministry backed the rebels' statement. "The Libyan resistance forces are in the process of controlling the totality of the city," the spokesman, Bernard Valero, said. "It represents progress on the ground by the action of Libyan rebel forces. It would seem to confirm the retreat and isolation of Gaddafi and his forces." The rebels have made no significant gains on the eastern front since March, and the loss of Brega would be a major blow for Col Gaddafi.

Gadhafi rejects international recognition of rebels

40 countries and international organizations recognize Rebel Council as legitimate representative of Libyan people; Libyan leader Gadhafi calls on nation to 'tramp this silly recognition under your feet' on state television.

Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi has rejected the recognition by 40 countries and international organizations of the rebel Transitional National Council as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people.

"Tramp this silly recognition under your feet," Gaddafi told his supporters in an audio message broadcast Friday night on state-run Libyan TV.

"Their decisions ... their recognition ... they are all now under your feet. Stomp on them," he added.

The Libya Contact Group, which met on Friday in Istanbul announced that it recognized the Libyan rebels' council as the representative of the people and a "government authority."

The meeting was the fourth of the group since the armed conflict began in Libya five months ago. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced for the first time Washington officially recognized the TNC.

The diplomats discussed ways to end the conflict between troops loyal to Gadhafi and the rebels. The participants in the meeting reiterated calls on Gadhafi to step down.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that various ways to increase pressure on Gadhafi were also discussed.

He added that the rebels were in need of humanitarian and financial aid ahead of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, urging members of the group to release part of the Libyan assets they had frozen so the rebels could be given a $200 million credit.

On Thursday, Gadhafi vowed in an audio message to fight back, saying: "I too will redeem you with my own life ... I will fight until the end.”

Libyan rebels win recognition and promise of financial support

The Libyan 'contact group' foreign ministers pose for a photo during a meeting in Istanbul.

Libyan rebels fighting to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi have won broad political recognition as the country's "legitimate authority" as well as the promise of huge financial support and a British commitment to intensify Nato bombing.

Recognition of the Benghazi-based national transitional council (NTC) at an Istanbul meeting of the international "contact group" on Friday was one of a number of political and economic measures designed to bolster the opposition and increase pressure on the Libyan leader.

Britain, along with France – the leading partner in Nato air operations – announced it was deploying four more Tornado fighter aircraft, on top of 30 RAF planes already operating. "Military pressure on the regime will continue to intensify," said the foreign secretary, William Hague.

The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, insisted that the regime's violence must end. "Increasingly the people of Libya are looking past Gaddafi," she said. "They know, as we all know, that it is no longer a question of whether Gaddafi will leave power, but when."

The emphasis, however, was on a political solution. The UN envoy to Libya, Abdul-Elah al-Khatib, was authorised to present terms for Gaddafi to leave power as part of a Turkish-drafted package that includes talks on a political transition.

"The contact group's decision to deal with the national transitional council as the legitimate governing authority in Libya reflects the NTC's increasing legitimacy, competence and success in reaching out to all Libyans," said Hague. "In contrast, Gaddafi has lost all legitimacy in the eyes of the Libyan people and the international community."

Few contact group member countries now maintain diplomatic relations with the Gaddafi regime and most have shut or mothballed their embassies in Tripoli. Britain has said for some time that it regards the NTC as the "legitimate representative of the Libyan people" but it recognises states, not governments.

For the US, France and others, the decision is expected to have legal implications that will allow billions of dollars in Libyan state assets frozen by UN sanctions to be made available to the NTC.

"We expect this step on recognition will enable the NTC to access additional sources of funding," said Clinton. Officials say there is over $30bn (£26bn) in the US alone.

"It is political support," said Guma El-Gamaty, London spokesman for the NTC. "It means no legitimacy for Gaddafi. It may also have a financial impact that will help us as well."

The UAE, one of two Arab states taking part in the Nato operations, announced that it would open a diplomatic mission in Benghazi.

Turkey's foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu, chairing the meeting, urged delegates to find "innovative ways" to support the opposition, stressing an "urgent need for cash" before the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, which starts on 1 August. Turkey has already started a $200m credit line. Italy announced a similar move.

It remains unclear whether Gaddafi and his sons will be required to leave the country under any political deal. "Gaddafi must leave power according to a defined framework to be publicly announced," the contact group said. The Libyan leader, wanted for crimes against humanity by the international criminal court, has repeatedly insisted he will not stand down.

Late on Thursday Gaddafi urged supporters to march on Benghazi and Misrata to liberate the cities of traitors.

"We are here and we will stay here on this ground," he pledged in a defiant message relayed by loudspeaker to supporters in al-Ajaylat, 50 miles west of Tripoli. "I will stay with my people until the last drop of my blood is spilled. I too will redeem you with my own life … I will fight until the end."

Gaddafi has plan to blow up capital Tripoli

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has a "suicidal plan" to blow up the capital Tripoli if it is taken by rebels, the Kremlin's special envoy to Libya told a Russian newspaper on Thursday.

"The Libyan premier told me, if the rebels seize the city, we will cover it with missiles and blow it up," Kremlin envoy Mikhail Margelov said in an interview with the Izvestia daily.
Margelov met Libyan Prime Minister Baghdadi al-Mahmudi last month. "I imagine that the Gaddafi regime does have such a suicidal plan," he added, saying that Gaddafi still had plentiful supplies of missiles and ammunition.

But Margelov, who has had rare access to senior Libyan officials, questioned reports that Gaddafi could be running out of arms in the drawn-out conflict. Gaddafi had still not used a single surface- to-surface missile, he argued. "Tripoli theoretically could lack ammunition for tanks, cartridges for rifles. But the colonel has got plenty of missiles and explosives."

Margelov met the Libyan prime minister on June 16 in Tripoli after holding talks in Benghazi earlier the same month. He has not met Gaddafi himself. Russia abstained from a vote on a March UN Security Council resolution that opened the way for foreign involvement and has since criticised the campaign -- particularly arms drops by France.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov met US secretary of state Hillary Clinton on Wednesday for talks on Libya, where Lavrov sought to play down differences between the countries. However, the Russian foreign ministry said on Wednesday that Moscow would not take part in talks on Libya later this week in Turkey, which has also seen itself as a mediator in the conflict.

Libyan rebels desperately short of funds

Even as rebel commanders predict victory is near, the rebel leadership is short of cash to fight the rebellion and run civilian affairs.
The lucrative oil industry has been shut down by the fighting.

In early April, Mazin Ramadan left his American wife and two children in Seattle and flew to this Libyan rebel stronghold to help the opposition sort out its shaky finances.

Three months later, things are looking as bleak as ever. "We're broke," said Ramadan, a Libyan American who founded a software tech company in Seattle and advises the rebel Transitional National Council on finances and oil. Even as rebel commanders predict that victory over Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi is near, the rebel leadership is desperately short of cash to fight the rebellion and run civilian affairs.

The lucrative Libyan oil industry, which normally earns billions of dollars in hard currency, has been shut down by the fighting. Salaries for the rebel government's workers haven't been paid in two months. There is precious little cash to buy the imported fuel needed for the war effort and for the economy in eastern Libya, which the rebels control.

The council is beseeching Arab and Western nations to offer cash or credit. "We're getting decimated on the financial front lines," Ramadan said this week. As he spoke, the lights flickered and died in the conference room at a villa dating to the Italian colonial era that serves as a council office in downtown Benghazi. Fuel shortages have forced daily six-hour brownouts.

The council has been buying fuel in Europe on credit. But last week, a European financial company that had provided $500 million in loans told the council that it could no longer shoulder the risk and shut down the credit line. About $100 million donated by Qatar has nearly been spent, Ramadan said, and $200 million promised by Turkey has yet to arrive.

Several tankers loaded with fuel from Europe have left the Benghazi port without unloading after the council couldn't pay cash, he said. The vast petrochemical complexes at Port Brega and Ras Lanuf, seized from the rebels by government forces this spring, have been shut down. Also closed is the natural gas pipeline that normally fuels electricity production in Benghazi and other eastern cities. That means that rebel leaders in the country that is the world's 17th-largest producer of oil must import all their fuel.

Several nations have promised to provide cash, Ramadan said, but only Qatar has delivered. "We hear a lot of promises, but it's a lot easier to promise than to deliver," he said. "We don't count on it unless it's sitting in our account." Ramadan said he is pursuing new credit lines. His two cellphones rang constantly as he spoke. The council has sought loan guarantees backed by billions of dollars in frozen Libyan government assets overseas. But weeks of negotiations have failed to pry loose guarantees,

Ramadan said. In a July 7 letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, four U.S. senators led by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) asked Clinton to help unlock the assets for Libyan humanitarian aid. The letter reminded Clinton of her recent promise to help put the rebel council "on firmer financial footing." Rebel finances "are in a perilous state," the letter said. The United States has authorized $25 million in nonlethal military assistance to the rebels and $53 million in humanitarian aid.

But Ramadan said loan guarantees backed by frozen Libyan assets would have a much bigger effect on the effort to topple Kadafi, a declared U.S. policy goal. The main crisis in the east is financial, not humanitarian. Thanks to unusually heavy winter rains, eastern Libya is flush with grains, fruits and vegetables.

Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi prepared to leave

France says it has had contacts with envoys from Muammar Gaddafi who say the Libyan leader is "prepared to leave".

"The Libyan regime is sending messengers everywhere, to Turkey, to New York, to Paris" offering to discuss Col Gaddafi's exit, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told French radio.

But he added that such contacts did not constitute negotiations. France played a key role in launching Nato- led strikes in Libya, under a UN-mandated mission to protect civilians. Mr Juppe told France Info radio on Tuesday: "We are receiving emissaries who are telling us: 'Gaddafi is prepared to leave. Let's discuss it.' "There are contacts but it's not a negotiation proper at this stage."

Mr Juppe did not say who the emissaries were. French foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said: "These are emissaries who say they are coming in the name of Gaddafi. What is important is that we send them the same message and stay in close contact with our allies on this."

Col Gaddafi remains in power in Tripoli despite almost four months of air strikes by international forces, leading to fears of stalemate. Rebels are holding eastern Libya and pockets in the west, but have not made decisive moves towards the capital. France and other coalition countries have insisted that the Libyan leader must stand down for hostilities to end.

"There is a consensus on how to end the crisis, which is that Gaddafi has to leave power," Mr Juppe reiterated.

Gaddafi forces launch counter attack

FORCES loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi have launched a counterattack against rebel advance positions 50km southwest of Tripoli.

Loyalist forces fired half a dozen Grad rockets into the hamlet of Gualish.

The rebels replied with anti-tank fire as they sought to maintain their grip on Gualish, a key gateway on the road to the capital Tripoli that they seized on Wednesday.

Just hours before the government attack, NATO warplanes bombed positions in the area, the correspondent said. A colonel in the rebel forces said the raid struck near Asablah, 17km from Gualish.

In its daily update, the Western military alliance said its planes carried out 48 strike sorties on Saturday, with the focus on Misrata.

Meanwhile, rebel troops advancing into the loyalist stronghold of Zliten said today they lost one fighter and had 32 wounded by landmines laid by Gaddafi's retreating troops.

Insurgents pressing out westward from the long-besieged city of Misrata said the ordnance was laid by Gaddafi loyalists falling back from their positions around Zliten.

Zliten, once considered a bastion of Gaddafi forces, is a key link on the road from rebel-held Misrata to Tripoli.

Libyan rebels said they were preparing on Saturday to push forward in their drive on Tripoli from both the south and west in a bid to isolate Gaddafi in his ever-closer capital.

But the embattled leader remained defiant, telling supporters on Friday that "the regime in Libya will not fall."

After heavy fighting, rebel fighters captured the desert hamlet of Gualish on Wednesday, taking them closer to the strategic garrison town Gharyan and the last major objective standing between them and Tripoli to the north.

For now, they have set their sights on Asablah, on the road to Gharyan, 80km from Tripoli.

A second target in a three-pronged strategy is the coastal city of Zawiyah, one of the last major loyalist strongholds west of Tripoli.

And from a base in Misrata, 215 kilometres east of the capital, the rebels reported on Friday battling to within 2km of the centre of Zliten town with the loss of five dead and 17 wounded.

"When we take Zliten, enforced with Misrata, it gives us a clear path" to Tripoli, rebel spokesman Colonel Ahmed Omar Bani said.

Senior Rebel Is Doubtful Qaddafi Can Be Routed

For months now, military leaders in the rebel capital, Benghazi, have boldly predicted lightning advances by their fighters and an imminent rout of the forces loyal to Gaddafi.

Muammar el-Qaddafi in Tripoli that would finally snuff out his brutal four- decade rule. The rebels have made some advances in the west in recent days, taking a small village in the Nafusah Mountains and pushing westward some distance from Misurata toward Tripoli. But a senior rebel military officer here in the mountains who said he defected last month from the Libyan Army called the prospects of a collapse by Colonel Qaddafi's forces highly unlikely.

The officer, Col. Mohammed Ali Ethish, who now commands opposition fighters here, said that even if the rebels were able to reach Tripoli, shortages of fuel, personnel and weapons made it unlikely that they would try to invade or march on the heavily fortified city.

A more realistic possibility, he said, is for rebels and others within the city to rise up against Colonel Qaddafi. "I hope that when we do reach the borders of Tripoli, the revolutionaries there free it," Colonel Ethish said. "If we don't go in with an organized army, there's going to be a huge mess."

In the meantime, he said, the mountain fighters were focused on the more modest goal of winning cities in the region, either by persuading Colonel Qaddafi's soldiers to defect or by driving them out in battle. His candid comments raised the possibility of a protracted endgame in the Libyan conflict.

They also provided little comfort to NATO countries that face increasing pressure to end the bombing campaign and seem desperate to find a quick exit, either by arming the rebels or by killing Colonel Qaddafi with airstrikes.